Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Bacall Vs. Deneuve ~Interesting piece by Germaine Greer @ the Guardian about the devolution of screen women. The problem with the article is putting Lauren Bacall on a pedestal and cutting Catherine Deneuve down. I hear what the author is saying about the roles BUT Deneuve is a world class actor and Bacall is only a world class "star" so the argument falls apart from there.

Hudson Vs. Holliday ultranow has mashed up "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)" Someone had to do it.

Travis vs. Walter & Bill OK, OK. this is not a catfight but Travis Hoover does list Pan's Labyrinth as #1 overrated (something I'm totally onboard with --shoulda made my list but it was the second viewing yesterday that clarified my "wow, this is overpraised" feelings) while Walter Chaw & Bill Chambers both have it at #1 and #2 respectively for their top ten lists @ Film Freak Central.

Beyoncé vs. AMPAS Music Branch -word comes via The Envelope that Ms. Knowles won't be winning an Oscar for her Dreamgirls original "Listen" after all. The song has several songwriters and, just as in the best picture nominations for producers, apparently they only allow so many credited people to be nominated. [thx, preston]

28 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Poor, poor Beyonce. I feel pretty bad for her since all of the Dreamgirls praise is essentially: Jennifer Hudson.

"Listen" is actually a good moment in the film, and it works well, and Beyonce does a good job with it, so there go her hopes and dreams with being an Oscar winner. Maybe she can smile and clap politely on the telecast...

...or curse and throw-down and scratch her way up to the podium. I can dream, right?

I think that Beyonce did more then any of those writers combined...she produced it, wrote it and performed it....There is seriously going to be some outrage for this...and if I were her I wouldn't sing that song on Oscar night just to show the AMPAS that many of their rules have got to go...(No more then ____ # of producers, writers or etc. for a film...that only one actor from a movie can be nominated in the catgory and if there is another actor they will have to go supporting)

I don't want to offend anyone, but have you founded some kind of "let's think the same way" club? I think "Shortbus" and "Marie Antoinette" are overrated by you. "Pan's Labyrinth" may not be better than "Volver" /that girl playing Ofelia is terrible, in fact/, but it's not that bad.And some of the online critics should think twice before reviewing "Little children". If they are so experienced, what makes them dislike the narrator so much? His presence is simple to explain and you don't have to do a lot of searching, just look at the title of the film.Well, I wish someone could explain to me what's so genius about "Marie Antoinette" and "Shortbus". I'd be grateful.

I saw Pan's Labyrinth a second time this weekend too, and liked it even more, which I thought impossible, so I guess we're gonna be disagreeing on this one, Nat. And I think the near-universal abuse being lain on Baquero is totally unfair, too! So there! ;-)

Seriously, though, I think she does a fine job that fits in with the movie's tone perfectly. I'm not just being blinded by the visuals here, either; this thing really gets under my skin and breaks my heart.

I am with Nat on Marie Antoinette and Shortbus - they're both in my top five (though Pan's Labyrinth is numero uno).

And I'm much harsher on Little Children than Nat was - talk about being disappointed. Though Kate Winslet was, as always, the best thing going. I even liked her in The Holiday, god help me (hated the movie, though).

Even when I was watching Kate do the sitcommy, from the preview, cliched slapstick with call-waiting scene, and knew I shouldn't be loving her, I still did. She is loveliness personified and I am blinded to anything else in her presence.

Oh and I watched The Descent again the other night, for the second time, and it is really threatening to bump something outta my top five... it's one I will be watching more than any of the others, that much I am sure of.

I apologize for the word vomit here, Nat; I'm trying to get my groove back.

God, Jennifer Holliday can sing the stuffing out of that song!!! I mean, Hudson was absolutely fantastic, really, really Oscar-worthy, but Holliday, it's, just, transcendent. I mean the power, the emotion, the voice-that has to be one of the best recorded performances in music history.

Also, I have to object to Bacall be demoted to simply a star-her turns in the forties were breathtaking, and my love for her is unwavering. Though, I agree, Deneuve is also one of the world-class talents.

I too love Marie Antoinette, but I wonder sometimes how much I love Shortbus. I need to see it again to clarify. I was giving it the benefit of the doubt every step of the way, cause it's JCM, but I'm actually not sure it was that great.

Haven't seen Pan's yet, or Children of Men or lots of others. But I respect the hell out of United 93 even if I don't love with it, and I suspect that if I see it again, I might love it more. I think Nat has some irrational aversion to it, personally... I hope it gets nominated for best pic.

It can't be expected that everyone jump on board with a film about September 11. Nat's made it quite clear that he doesn't like the fact that 9/11 is the central focus of films so it's completely understandable.

I'm so so devastated about the Beyoncé overruling - when did this retarded rule come into place anyway? Didn't the Return of the King song win an Oscar for its twenty songwriters (including Annie Lennox)?

Beyoncé SHOULD really kick up some fuss about this. I was really looking forward to hearing the words "Academy award winner Beyoncé" in the future. This just seems plain unfair as she is a credited writers on a potentially Oscar-winning song.

What makes it sadder is that I saw an interview she gave a year ago on MTV and she said one of her ambitions and dreams was to someday win an Oscar - but she said she still has plenty of time to make a stab at it.

The AMPAS music branch really need to change some of their crappy rules - like this one and the stupid one that meant A Love That WIll Never Grow Old was disqualified last year.

Re: Germanine Greer's article - it's poorly written and scantily researched. The woman doesn't really have a clue about film - she's an English Lit lecturer at Warwick University here in the UK. It's like one of my lit tutors suddenly deciding to write an overblown piece of film history crit - they wouldn't have a clue where to start. I hate the way the media likes to turn to established professors and lecturers like they're all-knowing oracles. They're not.

And add me to the I heart Marie Antoinette club - it's gorgeous and one of 2006's best.

Yeah, Kamikaze, that'll probably be the case. But, the thing is, every trailer-trash pop star has a Golden Globe - very few of them actually have Oscars.

And those who do are the ones regularly rolled out when the word 'legend' is bandied about - Barbra Streisand, Prince, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Annie Lennox, Eminem. It would've been nice to see Beyoncé join that elite pantheon of stars.

I've been playing B'Day and Crazy in Love on repeat on my iPod all day in mourning.

I like Beyonce and all and she did a good job singing the song, but she didn't write a lot of it. She said that the song was already written before she signed on the project and she just changed some words.

I think Beyonce is overrated especially in songwriting. She didn't write half the things they say she did. "Crazy in Love" & "Irreplaceable" were both written by other people. (as well as the majority of the songs she sings, she only changes a word or two.)